Spending time in Alaska with family and friends is about as good as it gets. I had the opportunity to travel to Delta Junction to spend 20-days with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. She actually hosted the LaHaye and Carroll family reunion. It was a chance for us to enjoy time together in the Land of the Midnight sun, which simply means the sun doesn't set until midnight or after and at this time of the year it is 24-hour daylight. It is hard to think about going to bed when it is light out. We did enjoy some pretty late nights or mornings, I should say. In Alaska, there is 4-wheeling, horseback riding, fishing, skeet shooting, eating, playing washers, and more eating--too much fun. Certainly one of the highlights of the trip was the charter I went on to catch this 42 lb king salmon. I literally caught it on the last cast of the day. There were 4 of us on the boat. Matt, a friend of the family, caught his 30 lb salmon with a tremendous fight within 40 minutes of arriving. Kathryn caught her 38 lb salmon 45 minutes after Matt. They were done and had to sit for the rest of the day as you can only catch one per day. So my sister, Tracy, and I fished for 2-hours beyond that with a couple of hits, but no luck. The guide called 5-minutes about 4:25 pm. I casted, reeled in, and casted again and again as I knew time was ticking away. I was nervous. The last reel in, I said well here goes, if I didn't get one this time, it just wasn't meant to be and guess what? I caught the biggest fish of the day! He fought some, but I did a great job of getting him into shore. Unfortunately my sister was the only one that didn't get a fish that first day of king salmon fishing on the Klutina River in Copper Center, Alaska. When you catch one---you always want more. It seems like the same thing happens on the court...
